Jean-Claude Van Damme Is 57 and Still Kicking the Bad Guys' Asses

Jean-Claude Van Damme has a new show premiering on Amazon Prime Video. It is what you'd expect—muscle pummeling flesh, bad guys getting their asses kicked, multiple high kicks—with a twist: Van Damme's role is that of an aging action star named Van Damme who is actually an undercover agent named Van Johnson. (You follow?) Despite the self-aware gimmick, the man hardly looks his age, which is 57 for those counting. Impressive stuff.

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Van Damme's method for staying active and limber this long is straight-forward: He keeps moving. By following a training plan that includes weights, kickboxing, stretching, and cardio, he's still able to do all the things required of an action star, albeit with a bit more caution.

More specifically, Van Damme focuses on two muscle groups a day. "Let’s say, when I do my chest, I will do biceps and forearms, and [the next day] triceps and back and calves, and then my legs and abs. One day rest, one day train," he told Men's Health. His regimen also includes cardio three times a week he said, and of course, stretching.

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IMAGE Getty

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In fact, he credits working on his flexibility early on for his ability to still practice martial arts at 57—and still being able to do the splits, he says. “I think it’s because I started training when I was very young. I was always into flexibility training, so it made my muscles very elastic. Also, I have good genes from my parents, and that DNA is very important. My mother and father’s skin is impeccable.”

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So here's to starting young and never stopping—and being able to kick like that at 57 years old.

This story originally appeared on Esquire.com. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.